A Promise
by Sir Chronos
Summary: Hikigaya Hachiman, 21, tries to cope up with adult life while trying to reconcile with a certain Ice Queen. (Occurs way after the events of volume 13, rated T for mild-ish swearing)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Existence is a pain", was what I thought back in high school. Heh, what an understatement.

After realizing my previous ambition was pretty much unobtainable for several reasons, I, Hikigaya Hachiman, became the very thing I despised my whole life, a corporate slave. Apparently knowing how to make the perfect cup of instant ramen with skill rivaling that of a world-class chef isn't enough to make you house husband material, tch.

My parents pretty much only got home to sleep, eat breakfast and go work again, so my timings are much better when compared to them, but being forced to 'socialize' with colleagues who think the Earth is 2019 years old is pure torture. And for some goddamn reason, my manager thinks I find his dumb jokes funny. The number of times I had to fake laugh just this week is over nine thousand (1)!

Mornings are just me getting up late, looking at the time (getting a heart attack) and rushing to work. Then come the dreaded 8 hours of work. The only thing that gets me through all of that is a heavenly can of MAXX Coffee! Okay, who am I kidding, more like 4... or 7... or 13... Damn, guess my body is 99% just coffee and sugar.

After a hard day of work, I go to the 2 bedroom apartment I've been renting for a year, have cup noodles for dinner and look at memes till I fall asleep, and the cycle begins anew.

Weekends are a bit better with me sleeping till I can't stand the taste of my breath, playing video games until I rage quit and almost throw the laptop I worked so hard during university to buy or sometimes just lie on my back, stare at the ceiling and do nothing at all.

And finally, when I'm bored being bored, I write down random shit which could be considered self-help material for people like me. Some publisher with way too much time on his hands read some bullshit I wrote on Fiction Press and thought it was a literary masterpiece. When he first approached me, I either thought he was kidding or simply bonkers, but after I gave him my mail address (I know it's kinda dumb sharing details with somebody online, shut up), he sent me what seemed to be a legit letter from a legit company which was totally not a figment of his imagination. And so I spend most my free time thinking about what to write the whole week and sit down to type it out on weekends. The guy did tell me to take my time but I'm pretty sure I should get a rough draft of it out soon.

My social life degraded even further (if that was possible), and I only interact with 5 people these days. Other than my parents calling me once in a while to check if I'm still alive and Komachi telling me everything that's going on with her life, there's Yuigahama, who still tries to stay in touch and contacts me frequently. Hiratsuka-sensei calls me every week, bragging about how she finally found somebody and I should get out and find myself a nice girl, to which I counter by saying she's like 30 years old and just recently found herself a partner. The calls usually end with her threatening to one punch me out of existence, scary woman.

In my opinion, it'll be hard to find a guy more 'masculine' than her, maybe somebody who wrestles bears for a living would do. The guy she's dating now is a nursery school teacher. Feel bad for him alrea...

Phone Ringing*

-Unknown Contact-

shudder* My Hikki Sense (2) is tingling. I already talked to the 4 people aforementioned today, maybe I ordered something and forgot about it, I thought and picked up the phone.

"Yahallo, Hikigaya-kun!", there's only one person who would greet and call me that. The second my mind processed this information, it erected the most formidable walls it did since middle school.

"What do you want?"

"Aw, is that the way you tall to your Onee-san after 5 years? Anyways I'm visiting Tokyo tomorrow, how about we meet at Sarutahiko Cafe at 10? I hear their cheesecake is delicious!"

"No", I say as coldly as possible. What gave her the idea that I'd waste my precious Sunday meeting her?

"Shame, I wanted to talk to you about Yukino-chan," I can feel her smirking on the other side.

"..."

"I can't read minds Hikigaya-kun, what do you say?"

"...fine," I whisper at last and end the call without waiting for a reply.

'Yukinoshita Yukino..."

* * *

_"I guess... I'll be waiting for you."_

_"You promise?"_

_"...I promise."_

* * *

1) Dragon Ball Z meme

2) Spiderman Reference

Author's Notes

I'm finally back to oregairu fics! All the new fanfics here and of course volume 12 (and 13 some fucking how) which I was sure wouldn't be finished in my lifetime, motivated me to write again.

Back to the fic now, this was an idea that I kept playing around in my head for a while and I got the basic story sketched out. It occurs way after the events of volume 13. Expect a lot of flashbacks and possibly even change of POV (no promises on that one though). I might add a chapter tomorrow (emphasis on might) but after that updates might be rare.

I thought a few parts here could've been more fleshed out, I might get around to add stuff later, it's 3 AM right now and I just wanted to get it out before I pass out.

Peace~

P.S I'm looking for a beta reader.


	2. Chapter 1

(Updated on 15/08/19)

**Chapter 1**

"_Hachiman!," I hear an angelic voice call out to me._

_Totsuka!" I yell back running as fast as my legs could take me while wearing a full suit of armor. This angel called Totsuka jumped into my waiting arms when we were a few feet apart._

_"I missed you soo much Hachiman! We can finally be toget... *BEEP BEEP BEEP*"_, an unearthly sound escapes from the fair maiden's lips.

"_What's wrong milady, should I take you to a doctor?", wait a second, I don't think there were any 'doctors' in the medieval age, maybe a witch doctor..._

* * *

"Seriously, What The Actual Fuck," I mutter to myself as I turn around and smash the off button on my phone.

'9:00 AM? How high was I when I set this alarm, it's Sunday for God's sake...' I think when I remember the events that transpired last night. A phone call to be exact. I check the call log just to be sure it happened and wasn't just a weirder dream than what I just had. Okay maybe not weirder, but you get the point, it was really unexpected. And sure as hell, there's a call from a contact now named 'DON'T ACCEPT'. There goes my sweet productive time of doing nothing, might as well get ready...

And here I am walking on the streets on an annoyingly cheerful morning at 9:30 like all those normal - fags around me. I could feel the lack of sleep making me more irritable than usual. I accuse you, Google, for making me watch weird youtube videos till 3 AM!

Thankfully the cafe was close by and soon I went inside and ordered a light breakfast since I'm sure I wouldn't have any appetite left after meeting Haruno.

My food arrived a few minutes later. Just as I'm about to dig in the worst thing possible happens and I hear her voice. What the hell woman, it's 9:50, does being overly punctual run in the family?

"Ah Hikigaya-kun you're early, I see you couldn't wait to see your onee-san! You ordered without me? So rude... I'll have the same as him," she says to a nearby waiter.

I don't know about punctuality but beauty does run in their blood I guess, Yukinoshita Haruno didn't age a day since I last saw her 5 years ago. Her clothing choice seems to have changed though and she's wearing stuff that could be considered... less flashy._ And_ _do__th my eyes deceive me?_ That's an engagement ring she's wearing! I should warn that guy to change his name and get out of the country. ASAP.

"Y...yo," I greet her awkwardly and she plops right next to me, much closer than what I'd be comfortable with.

_Oi, I'm feeling things on my arm that I really shouldn't (stand down boner-kun), besides aren't you engaged now? oh, she smells nice..._

_Wait a goddamn second, I lost my phone just 2 months ago, how'd she get my number, let alone know that I'm in Tokyo?_

"Top of the class in University and now a tiring but very high paying job, what happened to the guy who never wanted to work and become a house husband?" she says, laughing hysterically.

_I wonder about the same thing._

"I had to pull in a lot of favors to get that information on you Hikigaya-kun, you better make it up to me!" she says with a pout while intentionally or unintentionally rubbing me with the aforementioned _things_. I scoot away to get some distance between us and regain my composure.

"No chance of that happening, I didn't ask you to pry into my private life, besides who gave it to you?" _Please don't say Komachi, my heart couldn't handle it, please!_

"I had to ask around a lot, Komachi-chan wouldn't give me anything whatsoever. In the end, I bribed Shizuka-chan with expensive sake", hearing this my face gets visibly relaxed. Our sibling bond is still very strong, _that old hag though._

"Anyways how have you been faring?" I don't really care but a good offense is the best defense when it comes to her.

"I'd be lying if I said everything is fine, and just between us, managing a huge company might be too much even for your amazing onee-san."

They say eyes are windows to the soul or something like that. Looking at her, I'd have to say it's true. Upon closer inspection, I could make out bloodshot eyes and dark circles she tried to hide with makeup. It almost makes me feel sorry for her... almost.

"But a few good things happened too, mother treats me like an actual person as opposed to an asset and father tries to spend more time with me. And to top it all off..." her voice fades away and she stares fervently at her ring finger.

"Speaking of which, who's the poor guy, is it anyone I know?" I'm genuinely curious. True she looks like someone who came straight out of a wet dream of a hormonal teenager and is the definition of a social butterfly. But I learned a long time ago that it's not who she is deep inside. It's all a facade she put up to blend in with the world.

"No, I don't think so. He saw through me he said he loved the real Yukinoshita Haruno. We've been dating in secret for a long time. In a way it's because of you that mother accepted us, so thank you Hikigaya-kun," she says with a warm and what I feel is a genuine smile.

"You're giving me too much credit," and I meant it, all I did was 'initiate' the conversation, in the end, it was the Yukinoshita sisters that talked to their mother. And man was she scary.

"You always were modest, you and I both know what made her confront mother. What she did, what you made her do really did change things for the better, for all of us." Before I could talk to Haruno about what happened, her food arrived, signaling the end of our conversation.

We were both done with our food after a while and I ordered a can MAXX Coffee to wash it down.

"I'm sure you didn't call me out here just to catch up, what exactly did you want to talk about?" Might as well cut to the chase, maybe if I end this soon I can get back to my bed-chan.

"Are you telling me you think I wanted to meet you after so long all because I have an ulterior motive? I'm hurt Hikigaya-kun, what if I just missed you?"

"I doubt that very much. You mentioned Yukinoshita, did something happen, is she alright?" I say barely masking the worry in my face. Damn, my walls have way too many cracks.

"My my, so caring, which Yukinoshita were we talking about again?" she says with a sly grin. _Damn you woman._

"Yuki-no," I mutter out trying to sound nonchalant, but the slight blush on my cheeks gave me out, causing Haruno to giggle.

"Yukino-chan is alright, I wanted to tell you was that her internship is over and she's returning to Japan today," she says, staring into my face, waiting for a reaction.

"I-I see, and you couldn't tell this to me on the phone because-?" I say carefully.

"It didn't seem right," she replied.

"You might fool somebody else Hikigaya-kun, but I see through you just as well as you see through me. You did promise her something, something that she's been holding on for very dearly. 5 years is a long time and you were pretty popular with your female, ahem, 'acquaintances' as you put it. If I found out that you broke your promise, onee-san would've been really angry" the underlying message was clear, '_if I felt something was wrong I would've stuck a knife in your gut and walked out of this café with a smile__'_. How this person managed to say this as sweetly as she did baffles me.

"And who knows, maybe I did miss you," she says with a fond look in her eyes.

"I have some work near your house, do you want a lift?" Is there anything you don't know about me? Saving my energy and going back to bed faster seemed like a good idea but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon. I needed time to clear my head.

"It's fine I think I'll go and get myself a book.. wait a second how do you know about the-"

"Yukino-chan and I got a lot closer, she started trusting me more."

"You don't know it yet but you owe your Onee-san big time, see you around Hikigaya-kun," she says cheerfully and leaves me to my thoughts.

Might as well check if that lazy author got around to finishing volume 14, I thought as I began towards the bookstore.

* * *

(New) A/N

Added some flesh to the conversation as promised. I changed a few events in the chapter. I'll start working on the next chapter as soon as I get a basic structure of it ready.

Peace~

(Old) A/N

I'm surprised I managed this but it's 2:40 now and I have classes to get to in about 5 hours (I'm fucked, I know). I wrote this _really_ slow, thinking out the dialogues and it's implications later on the story, so I didn't bother proofreading it. I would've preferred a lot more conversation and internal monologuing but time was a big constraint here. I'm sure I would've lost interest if I didn't get a basic foundation of the story out before I got back to college so I just rushed through it. I couldn't get any memes or references in there but I hope the light humor was enough to swallow it down. What do you guys think?

I will get around to adding the much-needed content to this and possibly even the previous chapter later on. Updates from now will be really rare though.

P.S I still need a beta reader.

P.S (again) I don't know if people noticed this but I changed the time since Haruno and 8man met to 5 from 6 years to better fit the chronological order.


	3. Chapter 2

**(IMPORTANT: Previous chapter updated and a few scenes were changed, I'd suggest re-reading it before starting this chapter)**

**Chapter - 2**

Memories are funny things. Sometimes they come in and 3 seconds later, they're gone. When somebody introduces themselves, a minute later it's like I stared at that flashy thing in Men in Black. Heck, I couldn't recall what I had for lunch yesterday if my life depended on it.

But sometimes, a few memories just get burnt into your brain, just as clear and vivid as if they're happening to you right now. Remembering them is like watching a great movie, completely immersive. Sometimes they're happy, sometimes they're shocking and sometimes they're just downright depressing. Whatever the kind of memory they are, they are in my opinion events that define you as a person. They are of the events that made you who you are. And seeing as every person is complex as fuck, everyone's got to have a lot of them.

And I am no exception. I remember that bonfire dance where I didn't have a partner. I remember that day in middle school where Orimoto exchanged numbers with me out of pity. I remember confessing a few months later, misinterpreting her kindness of replying to all my messages with a simple 'k', 'oh' or the classic 'my battery died, sorry for not seeing your message yesterday'. And how could I forget all those days my arrival into the class initiate chants of 'Hikigay-kun' or 'Hiki-germa's here, everyone run!' in the playgrounds. This is all just scratching the surface. With every single one of them causing me to level up my huge array of 108 loner skills and continue down the holy path of the loner.

Not all of them were bad though. There's this time when Komachi called me 'Oneee...' for the first time when she was 2 years old. Or when my dad took a day off from work just to spend time with me and teach me baseball (not that I had friends to play with). And the first time I saw Totsuka and he called me by my first name...

If you asked me this back in high school, I would've denied it with my dying breath, but some of the happiest memories I had were in the service club and with its members. Helping Yukinoshita teach Yuigahama baking, playing tennis with Yukinoshita, shopping for Yuigahama's birthday present, Yukinoshita asking me to 'save her someday', that time when our faces were just inches apart in the infirmary, both of us unsure of what to do, and me putting forward my vague request to find the genuine thing in Kasai Rinkai Park.

But I remember none more clearly than that fateful evening in the clubroom almost 6 years ago...

* * *

I stood in the place that I've grown very familiar with, the room dyed orange with the setting sun, cool breeze causing the curtains and the raven-black hair of the only other occupant wave around. A poetically beautiful scene that was forever imprinted in my mind. Noticing my presence, Yukinoshita turned around and I was met with her eyes, which were usually cold and distant, glistening with warmth. I knew what was coming up and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I steeled myself and sat in my usual place. It's funny, I remember everything about the room from back then but I could only make out a few sentences of our conversation.

"The motto of the service club was to help people grow. We did help a lot of people, but I'm afraid it was detrimental from the club members themselves. We came to a standstill and stopped growing. I don't see the point in continuing this."

"Let's end this," this sentence snapped me out of my trance.

"Oi Yukinoshita, calm down. I don't see what's wrong. If it's about what your sister said then..."

"It is exactly about that Hikigaya-kun. I failed in Hiratsuka-sensei's request, I failed in changing your way of thinking. And worst of all I have come to completely depend on you for everything. This is unacceptable. And I need to figure out what I feel... about you. I need to know if it's just dependency or-or something else," she says with tears forming in her eyes. She put in words the very things what I had been thinking about non-stop the whole week. The very question I was afraid of asking even myself.

"I don't want it to be the former..." she says in a voice softer than a whisper, the most vulnerable I've ever seen her. And I felt wetness on my cheeks.

"I need to know, so please refrain from interfering in anything related to me, I need to do this alone," she said with determination. I didn't know if 'this' meant the event or her situation with her mother, somehow I had the feeling it was both.

"I-I understand," I finally manage to say, my voice cracking a little.

"And since I won, I want you to grant Yuigahama-san's wish." I wasn't sure even Yukinoshita knew what she was implying with what she was saying. I nod a few seconds later.

"I'll have to take a few things out of here and clean it up, the club is dismissed," she said with finality and the weight of the sentence finally hit me, this would be my last day in this room. _'I fell in love with this place, thank you for saving it Hikki..." _words uttered by Yuigahama came to my mind and the whole world felt numb.

I remember going back to the house, jumping on the bed and willing my self to sleep. Sadly it wouldn't come and the events of the day replayed in my mind, over and over again, making me more miserable each time until I eventually cried myself to sleep.

* * *

A/N

Yup, I'm still alive! I wanted to do a flashback this scenario was the only one that I felt wouldn't spoil the later chapters.

Constructive criticism is appreciated.

Peace~

P.S: I'm still looking for a beta reader...


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